The benchmark equity index dropped sharply this week as jittery investors continued to offload their holdings amid concerns over the prevailing macroeconomic situation.
Market analysts said the lack of investor confidence, coupled with heightened uncertainty, led many to refrain from making fresh bets on stocks. The volatile investor sentiment was further exacerbated by the recent imposition of big fines on several market manipulators.
This week, the stock market regulator slapped fines totalling around Tk 2.70 billion on several market manipulators and companies in two phases for their involvement in malpractices.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) also decided to conduct a special audit of three major concerns of much-talked-about Beximco Group.
The latest moves come as part of a series of measures taken by the capital market regulator to curb manipulation and bring discipline to the market.
As a result, the market witnessed a dominant sell pressure and all five trading days of the week ended lower, with investors adopting a cautious stance amidst a backdrop of regulatory scrutiny and economic uncertainty.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), finally settled the week 91 points or 1.76 per cent lower at 5,105, after gaining just 4 points in the week before.
In its weekly analysis, EBL Securities said stocks plunged into losing territory this week as investors became anxious over the market's momentum amid repeated regulatory actions against stock manipulations.
The market faced a continuous selling spree throughout the week, while the news of the disbursement of Tk 30 billion sovereign-guaranteed loan to Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, also failed to revive investor confidence, said the stockbroker.
The market capitalisation which refers to the total market value of companies' outstanding shares shed Tk 112 billion this week to settle at Tk 6,524 billion on Thursday as investors sold off large-cap stocks.
Price erosion of selective stocks such as Islami Bank, BAT Bangladesh, National Bank, Khan Brother and Beacon Pharma jointly accounted for a 65-point fall in the key index.
Islami Bank alone contributed to a 42-point fall in the key index this week as its stock plunged more than 11 per cent to close at Tk 45.6 on Thursday.
Two other DSE indices also nosedived. The DS30 index, a group of 30 prominent companies, dropped 30 points to 1,882 and the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, lost 24 points to close at 1,140.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also dropped to Tk 16.11 billion this week, down from Tk 22.22 billion in the previous week.
Accordingly, the average daily turnover stood at Tk 3.22 billion, down 27 per cent from the previous week's average of Tk 4.44 billion.
Investors were mostly active in the pharma sector, which accounted for 17.3 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by textile (16.3 per cent) and banking sector (10.9 per cent).
Most of the traded stocks saw price erosion, as out of 392 issues traded, 293 closed lower and 76 ended higher, while 23 others remained unchanged.
Most of the large-cap sectors posted negative performance. The non-bank financial institutions experienced the highest loss of 0.75 per cent followed by food with 0.70 per cent, pharmaceutical 0.47 per cent, power 0.26 per cent, engineering, 0.25 per cent and banking 0.06 per cent.
Orion Infusion was the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 1.11 billion changing hands, followed by Dragon Sweater, Asiatic Laboratories, Lovello Ice-Cream and Saiham Cotton Mills.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower, with CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) losing 277 points to settle at 14,304 and its Selective Categories Index (CSCX) shedding 169 points to close at 8,702.
The port-city bourse traded 13.23 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 270 million.
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